Giants erase 7-0 deficit, lose again
As you chew on the Giants' latest loss Saturday, you might surmise there was some satisfaction from the players in the way they rose from their catatonia, tying a 7-0 game with a two-run eighth and a five-run ninth after they had scored only four runs in the first 43 innings of their trip.
You would be mistaken. There was no satisfaction, just the despair of a team that needs to win behind All-Star Tim Lincecum today so they do not take a seven-game losing streak into the break.
The despair was easily visible to 41,555 fans, or at least those who remained to the end of the Cubs' 8-7, 11-inning victory. It was represented in Bengie Molina as he lay motionless at home plate, on his stomach, his face buried in his hands, after the close play at home that decided the Giants' 55th defeat.
The Giants did a great thing at Wrigley Field. For the first time since 1985, they scored five runs in the ninth to tie a game. They refused to give in to the temptation of inevitability. They tried to win a game that was lost. That they nearly succeeded brought them no comfort.
"I can't speak for everybody," said losing pitcher Brian Wilson, "but I know it's pretty dissatisfying to score five runs to tie the game and have one of your pitchers piss it away in the (11th). We had a pretty solid inning. We scored five runs. It's just disheartening to lose that way when you make a comeback like that."
You think Wilson was hard on himself? Listen to starter Kevin Correia, who allowed seven runs in 32/3 innings, including a two-run homer to Jim Edmonds on an 0-2 fastball down the pipe.
"That was the worst outing I've had in a long time," he said. "I felt like I shouldn't have been on the field with those guys today. ... Everybody played a great game. We should have won. I was the only one who didn't hold up my end of the deal."
The game ended after Wilson, who got through the Cubs' middle-order thumpers in the 10th inning, allowed a leadoff single to pitcher Sean Marshall in the 11th. Wilson then walked Mark DeRosa after having him down 0-2. After Mike Fontenot bunted into a force, Reed Johnson grounded a single into right field.
That is where manager Bruce Bochy had stuck shortstop Emmanuel Burriss, because he had no position players left after Burriss pinch-ran for John Bowker in the five-run ninth. When did Burriss last play outfield? He recalled one inning in college.
But he charged that ball like he had done it a million times and heaved a healthy throw home into the mitt of Molina, who stuck it on the ground as DeRosa slid feet-first. Molina thought the runner kicked the mitt before he touched the plate. Umpire Mike DiMuro thought otherwise. Safe, he said, ending a 3-hour, 53-minute epic.
"I put my glove right in front of the plate and he slid right on top of it," Molina said. "But what are you going to do now, right? The umpire had a good angle. He probably saw something that I didn't see or I didn't feel."
If nothing else, the Giants finally found a way to hurt Rich Harden, who struck out 10 in 51/3 innings in his Cubs debut. Harden has an 0.67 ERA in five starts against the Giants, but their seven-run comeback deprived him of a victory.
The two-run eighth against Kevin Hart was standard fare. A Ray Durham single, the second of two Molina doubles and an Aaron Rowand single made it 7-2 Chicago.
The five-run ninth against Carlos Marmol was anything but standard. It began when Ivan Ochoa hooked a double down the left-field line for his first big-league hit. Durham and Molina had RBI singles, and Bowker got a run home with an infield out to make it 7-5.
With closer Kerry Wood unavailable because of a blister, manager Lou Piniella let Marmol blow the entire lead. It happened when Eliezer Alfonzo grounded a single to short that brought Molina home with the sixth run. Then, Theriot lost his mind. After diving to stop the ball he tried to heave a blind throw from his back to get the third out somewhere. It was wild, and Burriss raced home to tie the game 7-7.
Ochoa, batting for the second time in the inning, flied out to end it.
"You've got to look at the silver lining," Bochy said. "We did come back. We didn't lie down. We kept grinding with two in the eighth and five in the ninth. That's all you can ask, to keep fighting."
Bochy's players wanted something more, a win. For that, they must wait at least another day.
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